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Your government has sold the Islamic republic of Iran 800 HS50 Steyr-Mannlicher .50 caliber sniper rifles in the name of international trade.

Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iran has been one of the world's most active sponsors of terrorism. Tehran has armed, trained, financed, inspired, organized, and otherwise supported dozens of violent groups over the years. Iran has backed not only groups in its Persian Gulf neighborhood, but also terrorists and radicals in Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Bosnia, the Philippines, and elsewhere.

Iran has been wreaking havoc in Iraq since the American occupation by arming, financing, supporting and sheltering insurgents. Hundreds of Iranian
intelligence operatives are working hard to destabilize Iraq; IRI cultivates terrorists such as Moqtada al-Sadr and is instigating Sunni uprising.
Iran has long pursued ties to Sunni jihadists, including members of al-Qa’ida.

As you are aware, the “Mullahcracy” Regime in Iran is an unelected government and rejected by the majority of the Iranian citizens.
The tyrants in Tehran have been brutally killing and injuring the innocent dissidents whose only crime is the cry of freedom.

Iran allegedly has bought the rifles to combat drug smugglers!!! It is a well known fact that the Iranian Mullahs are the drug cartels in the
region killing several birds with one stone mainly financial gains, followed by producing a drugged out disinterested society incapable of resistance
and finally financing terrorism.

Whether these guns be used on the Iranian citizens or American soldiers, we condemn the reckless acts of selling weapons to the IRI tyrant
regime for political and monetary concessions. You choice to stand with or against the Iranian people will determine our future government’s political and economic relations with your respected government.

Fury over Austrian 'super' rifles for Iranians
By Thomas Harding Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 14/01/2006)
Daily Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/01/14/wiran214.xml
Britain and America are furious with Austria for exporting to Iran 800 sniper rifles that could be used against their troops in Iraq.
HS50 Steyr-Mannlicher .50 caliber rifles can pierce body armour from up to a mile, shoot down helicopters and penetrate Humvee troop carriers that have not been fully reinforced.
The weapons are highly accurate and fire a round called an armour-piercing incendiary, a bullet that the Iranians manufacture.
There are fears in the Pentagon that some will reach insurgents fighting allied forces in Iraq.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard is suspected of passing on bomb-making technology to Iraqi terrorists responsible for infra-red bombs that have killed 10 British soldiers.
A Foreign Office spokesman said there were "serious concerns" over the rifle sale and London had protested to Vienna.
"Although we did make our worries known, the sale has unfortunately gone ahead and these weapons could now fall into the wrong hands," he said.
Iran allegedly bought the rifles to combat drug smugglers pouring through the borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The order, worth an estimated £8 million, was placed with Steyr last year and the company was given government permission to export the weapons.
A spokesman for Austria's interior ministry said there was no reason to stop the deal.
Iran is said to be re-arming after a £455 million deal with Russia for missiles and radar to ward off any air strikes on its nuclear facilities.

These are the Iranian armaments captured by Israel Army in Lebanon.
Just have a good look.
The Armor Piercing Precision guns that Austria sold us are among the rifles in the hand of an Israeli soldier!?
His Excellency Koffi Anann needs more proof?

US soldiers search a house for insurgents, in eastern Baghdad. US troops have found more than a hundred Austrian-made sniper rifles, which were sold to Iran, in a Baghdad raid on insurgents, The Daily Telegraph has reported citing unnamed defence sources. The .50 calibre weapons, which are capable of penetrating body armour, were part of a shipment of 800 rifles exported by Austrian arms manufacturer Steyr-Mannlicher to Iran last year, the newspaper said.(AFP/File/David Furst)

Austrian sniper rifles that were exported to Iran have been discovered in the hands of Iraqi terrorists, The Daily Telegraph has learned.

More than 100 of the.50 calibre weapons, capable of penetrating body armour, have been discovered by American troops during raids.

The Steyr HS50 is a long range, high precision rifle
The guns were part of a shipment of 800 rifles that the Austrian company, Steyr-Mannlicher, exported legally to Iran last year.

The sale was condemned in Washington and London because officials were worried that the weapons would be used by insurgents against British and American troops.

Within 45 days of the first HS50 Steyr Mannlicher rifles arriving in Iran, an American officer in an armoured vehicle was shot dead by an Iraqi insurgent using the weapon.

Over the last six months American forces have found small caches of the £10,000 rifles but in the last 24 hours a raid in Baghdad brought the total to more than 100, US defence sources reported.

advertisementThe find is the latest in a series of discoveries that indicate that Teheran is providing support to Iraq's Shia insurgents.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, yesterday denied that Iran had supplied weapons to Iraqi insurgents. But on Sunday US officials in Baghdad displayed a range of weapons they claimed had originated in Iran.

They said 170 American and British soldiers had been killed by such weapons.

The discovery of the sniper rifles will further encourage those in Washington who want to see Iran's uranium-enriching facilities destroyed before a nuclear weapon is produced.

The Foreign Office expressed "serious concerns" over the sale of the rifles last year and Britain protested to the Austrian government.

A Foreign Office spokesman said last night: "Although we did make our worries known the sale unfortunately went ahead and now the potential that these weapons could fall into the wrong hands appears to have happened."

The rifle can pierce all body armour from up to a mile and penetrate armoured Humvee troop carriers.

It is highly accurate and fires a round called an armour piercing incendiary, a bullet that the Iranians manufacture.

The National Iranian Police Organisation bought the rifles allegedly to use them against drug smugglers in an £8 million order placed with Steyr in 2005.

The company was given permission to export them by the Austrian government, which is not a Nato member.

Almost a year ago to the date when Austrians sold the Iranian mullahs these sniper rifles, I told you it was intended for the American soldiers, sure enough Within 45 days of the first HS50 Steyr Mannlicher rifles arriving in Iran, an American officer in an armoured vehicle was shot dead by an Iraqi insurgent using the weapon.

My letters of protest to the Austian authorities were not answered, Shame on them!

LONDON: Sophisticated rifles supplied to Iran by an Austrian arms company are finding their way into the hands of Iraqi insurgents, a British newspaper reported Tuesday.

American troops have recovered more than 100 "Steyr .50 HS" rifles in Iraq, part of an Austrian consignment of 800 such weapons delivered to Iran over American protests that they could be given to insurgents, the Daily Telegraph reported.

The Austrian government approved the sale of the rifles, made by precision weapons maker Steyr Mannlicher GmbH, after it concluded in 2004 that they would be used to fight narcotics smugglers.

"We checked the proposal very thoroughly," Austrian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Astrid Harz said, noting that the situation in Iraq and the region in 2003-2004 was very different then than it is today.

"What happened to the weapons then is the responsibility of the Iranians," Harz said.

Today in Europe
Poland to privatize stock exchange Illegal trade suspected in bird flu outbreaks EU bows to U.S. pressure on punishing Iran
In comments to The Associated Press that year, former Steyr owner Wolfgang Fuehrlinger said U.S. Embassy officials had expressed concerns that the rifles could be used against American troops in Iraq, adding that he had rebuffed a request to stop such sales.

The 12.7 x 99 mm rifles are about 1.2 meters (4 feet) long, weigh more than 12 kilograms (20 pounds) and count as an anti-armor weapon among experts because of the high punch of its projectile, Fuehrlinger said.

Franz Holzschuh, Steyr's CEO, said the company had not officially been contacted by anyone to verify the serial numbers on the rifles. He said there was a possibility the weapons were reproductions and that there were "thousands" of these in circulation.

"Fact is, we never delivered to Iraq," he said.

U.S. officials could not confirm the validity of the report, said William Wanlund, spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Vienna, Austria.

"Obviously, if the reports are true, it would be profoundly disturbing," he said.

Wanlund said the weapons were shipped in 2005, while the Telegraph said the weapons were exported in 2006. The reason for the discrepancy was not immediately clear.

The U.S. imposed sanctions on Steyr in December 2005, forbidding it from obtaining U.S. export licenses to do business in America. The Austrian government condemned the decision at the time, saying it made no sense to punish the company after the fact.

Holzschuh said there were still U.S. sanctions against his company.

Britain's Ministry of Defense said it had also raised the issue with the Austrian government shortly after the sale.

"We discussed it privately with the Austrian government shortly after the sale," a Ministry of Defense spokesman said, on condition of anonymity in line with government policy. "Now the potential that these weapons could fall into the wrong hands appears to have happened."

By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent
12 minutes ago
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070214/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_14WASHINGTON - Challenged on the accuracy of U.S. intelligence, President Bush said Wednesday there is no doubt the Iranian government is providing armor-piercing weapons to kill American soldiers in Iraq. But he backed away from claims the top echelon of Iran's government was responsible.

Wading into the debate, Bush said the Quds Force was instrumental in supplying the weapons — "we know that," he said — and that the Quds Force was part of the Iranian government. "That's a known," he said. "What we don't know is whether or not the head leaders of Iran ordered the Quds Force to do what they did."

Following the weekend intelligence disclosures about Iranian-supplied weapons killing GIs in Iraq, we predicted Tuesday that "a large part of Washington will pretend the evidence doesn't exist, or suggest the intelligence isn't proven, or claim that it's all the Bush Administration's fault for 'bullying' Iran." Sure enough, President Bush faced a barrage of questions Wednesday wondering whether senior Iranian leaders were really aware of the weapons transfers, whether he was using "faulty intelligence," and whether the disclosures were part of a strategy designed to "provoke Iran."

So here is the state of our public discourse: American military officials present prima facie evidence of Iranian weapons implicated in killing 170 U.S. soldiers and wounding 600 more, and Washington's main concern is not for the GIs but in refighting the last intelligence war.

Well, here's an item that doesn't seem to have been manufactured by Dick Cheney. According to a report in Britain's Daily Telegraph, U.S. forces in Baghdad have recently discovered 100 high-powered sniper rifles made by Austrian gun-maker Steyr-Mannlicher. The .50-caliber Steyr can accurately fire an armor-piercing round at a range of 1,500 meters. The weapon is good against Humvees, helicopters and body armor.

In 2004, Iran purchased some 800 Steyrs, allegedly for use against drug traffickers. At the time, both U.S. and British officials urged the Austrian government to bar the $15 million sale, fearing the weapons would fall into enemy hands. Former Austrian Chancellor Wolfang Schüssel thought otherwise, and let the deal go forward. To better grease the skids, then-Steyr-Mannlicher CEO Wolfgang Fürlinger made the case that the weapons were basically harmless and that Tehran had signed "end-user certificates" guaranteeing they would not be re-sold, according to the German newsweekly Der Spiegel.

Today, the Austrian government pleads that the sale had been "checked very thoroughly," and that "what happened to the weapons . . . is the responsibility of the Iranians" -- which prompts the question of why the Austrians would have bothered with the end-user certificates. The Bush Administration took a less cavalier view and in 2005 banned Steyr-Mannlicher from bidding for U.S. government contracts.

It remains to be confirmed whether the serial numbers on the Steyrs found in Iraq match those from the 2004 sale -- if they do, it ought to prompt a top-to-bottom review of all Austrian military contracts. Meantime, is it too much to expect American journalists and Members of Congress to devote as much skepticism to Iran's motives and behavior as they do to Mr. Bush's?